Apparatus for separating liquids and solids



Sept. 10, 1929. H, C, SEHR 1,727,855

APPARATUS Fon SEPARATING LIQUIDS AND soLIDs Filcd Sept. 10, 1927 INVENTOR awww* A'rroRNEY Patented Sept. 10,*1929.

UNITED STATES HANS C.' BEER, OF SCARSDALE, NEW YORK. A'

APPARATUS FOR SEPARATING LIQUIDS AND SOLIDS.

Application filed September 10, 1927. Serial No. 218,719.

This invention relates to and has for an object to provide centrifugal apparatus for `continuously separating liquids and solids from a mixture, one application being the freeing of line coal from water.

The apparatus herein illustrated is useful in carrying out the method set forth in my copending application Serial No. 216,810 iiled the 1st day of September, 1927 for improvements in continuous separationof liquids and solids.

In the drawings accompanying thisY speci iication, one practicable embodinient of my invention is illustrated, in which drawings,

Figure 1 is a central vertical section of the apparatus, and i Fig. 2 is a crosssection taken on a plane at about the line 22 of Figure 1, the outer housing being omitted.

In the present illustration, the movable parts rotate about a vertical axis which is represented as the common axis of the shaft, 5,'

trated will be described in detail, although' it will be obvious various changes in detail of construction may be made.

The material fed through the hopper, 7, and mouth, 8, passes outwardly by centrifugal force through four radially disposed passages,` 9, each of which embodies a vertically disposed screen, 10, the screen being located a little to one side of the true radial line, and in the present illustration are substantially tangential to the inner Wall of the mouth, 8. The screen surface is constructed and adapted after the manner of the impeller blades of a centrifugal pump. The inner rotary body in which the passages, 9, are formed and which carry the screens, is illustrated in the form of a casting formed with a series of screen supporting portions, 1l, each of which has across its face a plurality of channels, 12,

permitting the outlet of the liquid, and a plurality of ridges, 1-3, for supporting the screen. The ends ofthe screen, 14, are shown bedded in grooves in the portion, 11, although other means may be employed if desired for holdino them in position. The outlet for the liquid which is passed through the screen is shown as a vertical hole or duct, 14, leading to a spout, 15, and fed by means of a series of openings, 16, extending from the space back of the screen to the duct, 14.

The liquid from the spout, 15, iiows into an annular pan, 17, and from this by means of a discharge opening, A18, into another annular pan, 19, from which it is led ofi" to .some suitable receptacle by a pipe, 20.

The member carrying the radial discharge openings, 9, and the screens, 10, is shown upstanding` from a bottom late, 21, which is shown supported by the fiinged head, 22, of

the shaft, 5, and, in the present illustration,

secured thereto by means of a nut, 23.

A series of ridges, 24, are shown disposed in the openings, 9, for the purpose of obstructing a too rapid outward flow of the mixture beingy treated, and at the same time for preventingexcessive pressure on the screen, 10. The material passing over these ridges has atendency to deposit a certain quantity of the solid matter between the ridges and to form ay surface indicated by the dotted lines, 25, which will represent the angle of repose of the material incident to its character and rapidity of movement. For the purpose of preventing the formation of vacuums behind these ridges, openings, 26, are provided. If a solid Walled passage were provided havin@r the restricted area afforded by the ridges and the banked up material, a great amount of pressure would be exerted on the screen, much greater than that which is afforded by the varying and automatically regulated restriction caused by the device `herein illustrated.

In the mechanism described and illustrated in my copending application above identi-fied,

' and the shaft 5 downwardly.

use of for the separating process, theliquid b its inertia leaving the solids and passing tlirough the screen, 10, while said solids are being accelerated centrifugally as they move outwardly by the centrifugal forces.

In my above noted earlier filed application, I explained a certain principle of centrifugal separation, namely, that if the material under treatment is retarded in its otherwise rapid centrifugal movement across the screen, particularly at the earlier stages of such movement, the solid material will not pack and the liquid will be thrown off from it and carry less of the finer portions of the solid material than when the movement is rapid or when it is effected by means of sera-pers. That principle is utilized in this present apparatus. At the very beginning of the outward travel of the material the liquid is permittedv to readily low'from it and does flow in practically the` pure condition, unaccompanied with even the finer portions of the solid material. The solid material as it approaches the outer portionof the screen is practically freed from liquid.

In the illustrated mechanism there is shown a. top plate, 27, which is bolted to the plate, 21, and is consequently fast with the screens 10 Rim or ange, 28, is shown projecting downwardly from the plate 27, and having an outwardly extending flange, 29. The inside of the rim, 28, is located at some little distance from the ends of the screens, 10. In operation, after the mixture has filled all the spaces between the obstructions or ridges, 24, up to its angle of repose, 25, the material then passes over the screen, 10, in the separating capacity and the solid material banks up against the inside of the rim, 28, from which it is removed by a 4series of blades, 30, these blades being located in' a circle and traveling between the outer ends of the screens and the inner surface or wall of the rib, 28. The blades are caused to move at a speed ,differing from the rotary speed of such wall. In the present. instance,

e blades travel at a faster rate of speed than the rate of travel of the wall and the parts carrying the screens, 10, such blades being fast on an inturned rim, 31, formed on the plate, 32, which in turn is bolted to the flanged head, 33,'of the sleeve shaft, 6.

' The shaft, 5, which is shown suitably mounted in the machine frame, as is also the shaft, 6, is driven by means of a pulley, 34, and a belt, 35, from some suitable source of power. The shaft, 5, is shown carrying a gear wheel, 36, in mesh with a gear wheel, 37, fast on a shaft, 38. The shaft also carries a gear wheel, 39, meshing with a gear wheel, 40, car-` ried by the sleeve shaft, 6. The number of teeth on the several gear wheels is so proportioned that the shaft, 5, drives the shaft, 6,

,forward at a rate of speed slightly in excess of the rotation of the shaftf, s0 that the Laatste blades, 30, travel somewhat faster than do the screens, 10.

The rim, 28, is provided with a number of openings, 41, through which the solid material received from the screens, 10, on the inside of the rim and advanced about it by blades, 30, will be discharged. The discharge is into the space, 42', and against the inner slantinv face, 43, of the outer cover, 44. These discharge open-ings are pre'ferabl located out of the direct path of travel o the material in leaving the passages 9.

By having many blades, 30, the movement of the solidsfmay be practically continuous. A few blades could be so arranged that the material would be caused to have an intermittent movement over the screens, l0.

The intensity of the separating effect is controlled by the position of the screens, 10.- Should these be curved forwardly to impede the travel of the solid material, of course itis apparent that a more intense separating effeet will be secured.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that this apparatus provides for a process of continuously separating liquid from a mixture with solids, in which the mixture, while being retarded by means rotating continuously at a uniform rate, is subjected to a gradual increasingseparating force, as the mixture is propelled outwardly over the foraminous surface by acentrifugal force while being tangentially accelerated, and in which such outward progress of the mixture and the discharge ofthe dried material are controlled by means acting beyond the limits of the screen surface, which controlling means rotate the material at a different rate from the rate of rotation of the mixture under treatment.

Having described my invention I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. In a centrifugal apparatus the combination with a screen constructed and adapted to act after the manner of the impeller blades of a centrifugal pump whereby the forces due to rotation act to expel the liquid through the screen surface and cause it to pass through the screen against the direction of rotation thereof and means for rotating the screen, of means for supplying a stream of material to the screen, a wall disposed 'outwardly (of the discharge end of the screen for receiving the material therefrom, and a series of movable blades for removing the material from the `said wall.

2. In a centrifugal apparatus the combination with a screen disposed in a substantially vertical position and means for rotating this, of means for supplying a stream of material to the screen, a wall disposed outwardly of the discharge end of the screen for receiving the material therefrom, a series of movable blades for removing the material from the said wall, and means for causing said blades to move at a speed differing from the rotary speed of the said wall.

3. In a centrifugal ap aratus the combination with a rotary bo of a plurality of vertically disposed screens carried by such body, thev rotary body having a circularly disposed Wall beyond the discharging ends of the screens, a circular series of blades for engaging the Wall and removing the material carried thereby, and means for rotating such blades at a speed different from the speed 0In rotation of the screens and material receiving wall.

t. The combination with a rotary body having centrally disposed means for receiving material to be treated, of a plurality of screens disposed in a substantially vertical position, each arranged tangentially to `a small circle concentric with the axis of rotation, the screen supporting portion of the body being provided with channels extending in substantially the same radial direction for receiving the liquid, the tangential component of the forces due to rotation being made use of for the separating process, the liquid by its inertia leaving the solids and passing through the screen while said solids are being accelerated centrifugally as they move outward by the centrifugal forces, and a circular Wall carried by said rotary body and located beyond the discharge ends of the screens for receiving the solid material and impeding the How of the solid material out- Wardly over the screen, and a circular series of blades rotating between the discharge ends of the screens and such circular -wall for removing at a predetermined rate the banked up material, the circular Wall being provided with a plurality of ports through which the'material carried by the blades is discharged.

5. The combination with a rotary body and a centrally disposed pipe for supplying material to be treated, ofv a plurality of screens each arranged tangentially to the circular bore of the supply pipe, the portionV of the'body for supporting each screen being provided with channels Iextending in substantially the same direction as the screen for receivino Wardly of the discharge end of the screen for receiving the material therefrom, a series of blades for removing the material from said wall, and means for causin said blades to move at a speed differing rom the rotary speed of said wall.

6. The combination with a rotary body and a centrally disposed pipe for supplying material to be treated, of a plurality of screens each arranged tangentially to the circular bore of the supply pipe, the portion of the body for supporting each screen being provided with channels extending in substantially the same direction for receiving the liquid, a circular Wall disposed outthe liquid, a wall disposed out-A day of September, 1927.

. HANS C. BEI-IR. 

